EPACKET vs Speed(aka slow) pak

[gregpilot]

I am sorry to say the speedpak service, which ebay seems to be forcing onto China suppliers, is costing them business.  It is horribly slow. Before I buy **anything** from China on ebay I now have to take the time to verify they can ship EPACKET.  Sometimes they will, usually it costs 1.00 USD more than the stated economy or speedpak shipping. EPACKET has been consistently two weeks or less, as little as seven, usually 10 to 12 days in shipping.  Tracking is consistent from shipper to buyer. Speed (aka) slowpak loses its tracking when import to the US is completed.  It then enters a dark zone for about 5 days, where presumably it gets transferred to the USPS. At some point the tracking ability resumes, in many cases after the item is delivered.  It is useless. And shipping time is three weeks at least,  sometimes four.

Because of this I am checking on Aliexpress more often.  Their shipping is similar to e-packet.  I now refuse to do any business here if the seller must ship speedpak. Often when I message a seller I am told no, they cant use epacket, or in one case I was told epacket would take 25 days, which is contrary to my experience over the years.

I have attached screencaps showing a typical epacket and speedpak shipment, for two relatively small, light items, which were delivered recently.  My other transactions had similar shipping. In fact, the epacket example posted here was from the seller who told me to expect 25 days, and that epacket and speedpak are similar.  They are NOT.

Ebay is doing their customers a big disservice and it is costing them business. Again, WHY???  Like the overly simplistic page redeigns, lower information density, too much white space and too many mouse clicks required to access hidden details for your transactions.  WHY??

I did a fair amount of business here with Chinese sellers.  Sure, there is a lot of junk but there are also some qood quality items to be had if you choose the right seller.  Many of these are imported into the US, rebranded, and sold at two or three times the price.

I happily pay 1.00 more for EPACKET.  But we are losing that option.  The express shipping option for 10 to 25.00 USD on a speedpak listing is not worth the money.

WHY????

[gregpilot]

Sorry I neglected to mention speedpak is the "service" offered by OrangeConnex. Avoid.

[airsheep]

I already wait a month or so for Chinese shippers. SpeedPak adds at least a week to 10 days. I have to train myself to look at shipping methods now; bad enough I have to verify origins of shipments!

[orangehound]

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@gregpilot wrote:

Ebay is doing their customers a big disservice and it is costing them business. Again, WHY???  Like the overly simplistic page redeigns, lower information density, too much white space and too many mouse clicks required to access hidden details for your transactions.  WHY??

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US Sellers are already heavily subsidizing shipping and customer service costs for China sellers ... it won't be long before eBay creates a new shipping service that allows China sellers to ship overnight to the US for $1.99, and it will be paid for (as usual) by the US sellers.

[ms.rodriguez*]

Oh my, no . Perhaps the Orange Cheeto can slap a big tax on Chinese junk …. Not fair that a 1 ounce package costs me 3.09 to ship from NY to Cal and thank God I get a top seller discount for printing through ebay. Otherwise, it would be at least 50 cents more at the post office.

[septantium]

SpeedSCAM is complete garbage, not only "delivery" takes a month or so, but a lot of times, the item shows as "delivered" when it isn't...  and the item never shows up..

I refuse to purchase any items from China using SpeedSCAM.. only epacket

[gratiaeveritas]

A couple of interesting things about SpeedPak...

SpeedPak is a joint venture between eBay and Orange Connex, a Chinese logistics company. That means, I have to assume, that eBay makes money when Chinese sellers use SpeedPak (otherwise, what is the purpose of a joint venture?).

Here's the funny thing though: eBay charges Chinese sellers the same 9-10% on the sale price AND THE SHIPPING COST that all sellers pay. Ironic, isn't it? eBay is saying to them, "Pay us $10 for shipping this item (via the SpeedPak service that we (half) own and earn profit from)...but before you pay us that shipping fee, we're gonna go ahead and take 10% of that $10 shipping fee from you as a surcharge for shipping through the service we (half) own".

The even funnier thing is, eBay is essentially forcing Chinese sellers to use SpeedPak.  Their rules to Chinese sellers basically say that you have to ship 90%+ of your shipments per evaluation period via SpeedPak or another of one of the "eBay-preferred shipping options". If they don't, they face punitive measures from eBay, which means selling limits choked off slowly and gradually until ... no more listings.

If you'll notice, when you look at the difference in delivery timeframe (as a seller when choosing a shipping method in your listing), the timeframe for ePacket is actually a couple of days less than for SpeedPak. However, SOMEHOW, when you actually compare the timeframes that are shown to customers for the same listing, on the one hand quoting ePacket and the other quoting SpeedPak, SOMEHOW...SpeedPak's delivery estimate is always faster (?)

Looks like eBay is tweaking the dates to promote SpeedPak as the faster alternative, even though it's probably not. It would be in their best interest to do so, since it is their joint venture, and they are "robbing" Chinese sellers coming and going every time SpeedPak is used.

eBay seems ETHICAL, huh?

Do you know which alternative "eBay-preferred shipping options" eBay gives them besides using SpeedPak?: I will tell you: A handful of premium-priced shipping services, like UPS and FedEx Express that almost no customers would ever select or be willing to pay for under normal circumstances.

So, in order to make sure they keep up their quota of 90%+ shipments sent out by "eBay-preferred" methods, they don't dare offer a cheaper or faster option than SpeedPak in their listings.  Chinese sellers are pretty much forced to make sure customers select SpeedPak, although eBay has conveniently set up the rules so that eBay can't be accused of giving Chinese sellers no choice (it's just that eBay has made sure that their making any other choice would be asking for eBay to destroy those sellers over time).

[imakesugar]

I did not know the difference between speed packet and epackate Thank You so much for the information. 

I am surprised when an order comes in 2-3 months. When the package arrives most of the time I can’t leave feedback the window for that has no option. I think That is wrong. 

Usually I get my epacket with-in 12-15 days. I am solidly in the northern Midwest. My imports come into Chicago 

[indridc0ld]

Orange Connex is a slug. A "service" that puts your order in limbo for weeks at a time.

Hey eBay! Can you spell SUCKS?!!!